this week, some 90s luk thung from somya yotying! i hadn't heard of somya prior to picking up this cassette, but from the j-card we can learn that she was on the roster of sansoen rungserichai's boxing sound label, home also to star yingyong yotbuangam. like yingyong, somya was a creation of producer phamon anothai and his anothai promotion group. therefore, the music is similar in sound to yingyong's hits of the time (the notes seem to indicate it might even be that singer's band backing her here); a standard sound for the time, not too different from yui yatyoe or later material from phumphuang duangchan. enjoy!

this week, another great cassette from the late police corporal yodrak salakchai! yodrak was from phichit in northern thailand, the youngest of 8 kids. after losing his father at age 7, yodrak & his siblings started singing ramwong music in local bars to help support themselves and their mother, earning enough to finance their schooling. after high school, yodrak himself moved down to nakhon sawan for a steady gig at a restaurant. here he started in with luk thung style (particularly the songs of phraiwan lukphet) and was picked up by a local radio dj, who passed him onto impresario chonlathi thanthong. under chonlathi, he came to be one of the biggest names in luk thung, from the late 70s until his untimely passing in 2008. while this cassette is a bit heavier on the ballads than others of his i've posted, fans of the thai disco sound should still find some enjoyment! and if you're into the syrupy luk thung ballad, of course, this has you written all over it. enjoy!

enchanting songs of thailand

a collection of great music made by the people of thailand; luk thung, luk krung, molam, regional folk styles & more. mostly recorded from tape, sound quality should be pretty good (unless stated otherwise). transliteration is done using the royal thai general system of transcription. feedback/re-upload requests/etc. always appreciated!